Young people are using digital tools to expand access to health information and reshape learning, reflecting the 2026 International Day of Education theme on youth co‑creating the future of education. As a generation facing persistent inequalities yet driving global innovation, youth are turning technology into a pathway for more inclusive, future‑ready education.
Across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, young people are also beginning to speak more openly about the subjects once left unspoken – health, relationships, emotional well-being.
In the region, young people’s health and education are under strain: recent regional surveys show rising adolescent mental‑health needs and uneven access to prevention and life‑skills education. In many countries, the lack of trustworthy information in local languages makes accessing knowledge and engaging in meaningful conversations difficult.
Across Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, a new generation of youth leaders is driving change in the digital sphere – filling information gaps, creating safe spaces and challenging taboos.
With curiosity and courage, they are reclaiming the narrative, choosing dialogue over silence and empathy over stigma, and building a culture of understanding that bridges generations and communities. Supported by UNESCO’s Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE) and its partners, young people are transforming innovation into action, and action into agency. Let’s meet them.
One chatbot at a time in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
“When I had questions, I had nowhere to ask them,” says Aizada, aged 19, from Bishkek. “Oilo was the first place where I felt safe talking about things no one else would discuss.” For young people, having a safe place to ask questions about growing up can make a real difference.
Aizada’s experience reflects a broader reality faced by many adolescents and young adults in Kyrgyzstan: sensitive questions about health, relationships, and personal development are often left unanswered, not because they are unimportant, but because reliable and confidential spaces for discussion are limited.
Developed by youth and informed by evidence, Oilo is Kyrgyzstan’s first youth-led chatbot on growing up, health, and relationships. It enables young people to navigate topics rarely discussed openly– from adolescence to emotional well-being, consent, and HIV prevention, in a safe environment and in the Kyrgyz language.
Since its launch, tens of thousands of young people like Aizada have turned to digital platforms to find reliable information about growing up, health, and relationships. Together, they have asked more than 260,000 questions on Oilo.
A similar chatbot was created in neighboring Kazakhstan. Young people developed Aspan, a bilingual chatbot in Kazakh and Russian, to have a safe digital space to speak about mental health, HIV, and relationships. To date, over 360,000 young people have engaged with Aspan across digital platforms, collectively asking more than 220,000 questions.
From reels to real conversations between adolescents and parents in Armenia
In Armenia, young people are closing the digital divide by creating the very spaces they once needed themselves.
TeensLIVE and ParentsLIVE grew from their desire to talk openly and across generations about bullying, mental health, online safety, and reproductive health, topics many felt they had to navigate alone.
For Sona, a young content creator aged 16, joining the initiative turned personal struggle into purpose. “I used to keep my experiences with cyberbullying to myself. Being part of this project allowed me to turn story into a roadmap for others.” Like her, young creators script videos, appear in reels, and shape content strategies, ensuring every message feels real, relatable, and rooted in lived experience.
Parents are part of the journey too.
“Watching these reels with my daughter opened a door we didn’t know how to unlock,” says Narine, who found a way to discuss difficult topics with her adolescent daughter without fear or judgment.By deliberately including parents, the initiative recognizes that meaningful change requires shared and intergenerational understanding.
This youth‑led, family‑inclusive approach is resonating nationwide. TeensLIVE reached 1.5 million users across social media platforms while ParentsLIVE reached some 416,000 parents in the country. Digital campaigns on online safety and positive masculinity were run by UNESCO with UNICEF and UNAIDS, respectively.
“Seeing the views on the reels climb over tens of thousands wasn’t about the numbers; it was about knowing that so many people were seeing that they aren’t alone,” says Sona. At a recent youth forum in Yerevan, participants shared that digital safety starts with feeling seen and heard. According to Mariam, aged 16, “knowing that so many of my peers go through the same struggles made me feel safe to open up.”
These initiatives show that young people are not passive audiences, but active architects.
They brainstorm scripts, appear in reels, and lead distribution strategies, shaping messages that feel authentic, empathetic, and grounded in lived reality. Together, these young creators are showing how digital spaces, when shaped by those who use them most, can help communities grow safer, more connected and with more understanding.
Building collective learning spaces in Kyrgyzstan
In Kyrgyzstan, TEENS.kg has become a youth-run space where adolescents create explainers, visuals, podcasts, and stories on health, including mental health, gender equality, and relationships – topics many of them once struggled to understand on their own.
For Link, one of the youth leaders behind the platform, the motivation comes from lived experience: “Our strength is our ability to share information online. TEENS.kg lets us pass knowledge on and grow through the process.” With UNESCOs Institute for Information Technologies in Education support, the project has become a space where professional-quality content meets the energy and perspective of youth.
The platform was created together with young people and addressed a gap: many of these topics are not openly discussed in school or within families, and reliable resources remain limited. For some young people, the platform became a trusted source of information at a time when such knowledge was otherwise inaccessible. Over several years, it has reached over 5 million users and counts more than 92,000 subscribers.
Sadzu remembers discovering the platform at age 15. “I knew very little about reproductive or mental health. I was impressed by how simply and clearly young people explained complex topics.” Later, she joined the team to help make that clarity available to others. More than 120 volunteers have done the same, turning their own questions into collective learning.
Beyond digital spaces, TEENS.kg hosted a youth forum marking World AIDS Day, during which young activists, influencers, and peers gathered to talk about stigma and exclusion through discussions, workshops, and creative sessions. For many, it was the first time they could share experiences openly.
Turning stigma into dialogue across the region
Supported by UNESCO’s Institute for Information Technologies in Education, a group of young science journalists created DVOR, a platform where difficult topics are addressed with honesty, humour and empathy.
Through posts, comics, memes, and Q&As, the team blends entertainment with education, translating complex topics into messages and formats youth can relate to. Just as importantly, young people listen, respond, share experiences and influence future content.
It has become one of the fastest-growing youth-led media platforms in the region, reaching 300,000 people every month with high engagement rates. By challenging stereotypes around relationships, bullying and behavior, the young team behind DVOR is helping shift harmful behavious alongside individual impact.
For Vladislav, now editor‑in‑chief, the motivation for his work is personal. “As an adolescent, I lacked reliable information about physical health, mental health and growing up. Now we’re building that space: expert-checked information combined with a safe, respectful dialogue through guides, Q&As, and community formats.”
“Every reader’s question comes with sincerity and often with pain, and we work through it together with our experts,” says Vladislav. Many readers write back saying the content helped them seek support, talk with their families, or simply feel less alone. “That’s how we know our media matters, and that we’re making the world a little better.”
One region, countless youth leaders and changemakers
From anonymous chatbots in Kazakhstan to positive masculinity campaigns in Armenia and youth-driven media in Kyrgyzstan and beyond, the region is alive with innovation and drive. Young people are not waiting for change, they are leading it, in their own languages and on their own terms.
Behind these initiatives are youth volunteers and advocates, demonstrating that when young people design the solutions, communities trust and embrace them. Collectively, they have supported informed decision-making, healthier relationships, and increased health literacy at scale.
To date, these youth-led digital initiatives have reached over 4 million young people and young adults across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, providing accurate, inclusive, and age-appropriate health and relationships education through websites, social media platforms, and AI-powered tools.
Through its flagship work on health and education, UNESCO’s Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE), in partnership with UNAIDS, UNICEF and other actors, and with support from UNAIDS-UBRAF and international donors, provides training, technical expertise, and visibility to scale these youth-led innovations.